Clonal fluctuation within the haematopoietic system of mice reconstituted with retrovirus-infected stem cells

The clonal make-up of the haematopoietic system of mice reconstituted with retrovirus-infected bone marrow cells was analysed at two different points in time following reconstitution. We have found that under these conditions, the haematopoietic system consists of clones that persist throughout the 5 month course of the experiment as well as those which undergo temporal changes. The various changes that we have observed included the appearance of a new clone(s) in all lineages, the loss of a clone from some lineages and the shift in the appearance of a clone from one lineage to another. In addition, we provide evidence which suggests that the clonal make-up of the thymus changes with time; early after reconstitution it consists of many clones, whereas at the later time-points it contains a limited number of predominant clones. These studies document the dramatic clonal changes which occur within the various lineages for a long time following reconstitution and highlight the difficulty in demonstrating lineage-specific stem cells.